Vacuum relay



April 2U, 1937. VWOLQGDIN VACUUM RELAY Filed 001'). l0, 1955 IlllL theformation of space charges.

Patented Apr. 20, 1937 PATENT OFFICE VACUUM RELAY Valentin Wologdin,Leningrad, Union of Socialist Soviet Republics Application October 10,1935, Serial No. 44,470. In Union of Socialist Soviet Republics April20,

1 Claim.

In known electronic valves or relays the transfer of the current iseffected by means of electrons.

This fact involves many inconveniences due to Among these inconveniencesmay be mentioned the considerable resistance of a cathodic tube so thatit is necessary to operate at high potential differences; for the samereason it is diicult to construct a tube for large outputs and toprovide for the conducting away of heat, and the like. Moreover, theeiiciency of the installation in which a cathodic tube is employed, atlow tensions and with a good utilization of the device,

cannot be made sufficiently high; for that reason such tubes are notused in heavy currents practice.

For compensating the space charges created by the electrons attemptshave been made to use for this purpose the heavy positive ions ofmercury or of some noble gases. These attempts gave as their result theionic tubes, which are, however, used in very narrow limits on accountof the unfavorable properties of the heavy ions which act in adestructive manner when they strike against the electrodes, althoughthis method is quite efficient as regards the reduction of the Voltagedrop in the tube.

The object of this invention is to realize the 0 compensation of thespace charges created by the electrons in such a manner that alladvantageous consequences of this compensation are obtained withoutthose undesirable conditions which make the use of positive ionsinconvenient in prac- The compensation of the space charges according tothe invention is effected by means of the positrons.

For this purpose in a vacuum discharge tube, in which the cathodeproduces the emission of 40 negative electrons (as is usual in suchdevices),

the anode is not made passive as regards the emission but is capable ofemitting positrons which have the same charge and mass as the electronbut with the opposite sign of the charge.

In this case when there exists a potential difference between the anodeand cathode, and when the anode has thepositive sign, a current willresult which will be formed owing to the movement of the electrons fromthe cathode to- 50 wards the anode, and at the same time there willexist a current in the same direction owing to the movement of thepositrons from the anode towards the cathode. Thus in the space between(Cl. Z50-27.5)

by bombarding the anode with thorium emanations.

As the result of the application of this invention it is possible toreduce the potential drop in the tube to a quite small value, thuspermitting to increase the output of each unit up to very great values,and since the efficiency of the systems provided with this tube will behigh even at low voltages, it will be possible to use the tubes withpositrons also in heavy current practice.

As regards the constructional characteristics, it is possible to providefor the control of the current, besides the grid at the cathode, afurther grid at the anode which will influence the positively chargedpositrons.

In the accompanying drawing is diagrammatically shown by way of examplea form of embodiment of the discharge vacuum tube according to theinvention.

In the drawing I designates the glass bulb of the tube, Z-theincandescent cathode, 3the grid for the control of electrons emitted bythe cathode, ll-the grid for the control of positrons emitted by theanode, 5-the anode, which emits the positrons, G-the material forbombarding the anode in order to stimulate the emission of positrons bythe anode.

Besides the described effect it is possible also to utilize the presenceof the positrons for influencing other parameters of the cathodic tuberequired by the working conditions, such as the steepness of thecharacteristic curve, the amplication factor and the like.

I claim:

A vacuum electric discharge tube comprising a cathode for producingelectronic emission, a grid which controls said electronic emission, andan anode which emits positrons and a grid for the control of positrons,whereby the space charges created by the negative electrons arepartially or wholly compensated by positrons emitted from the anode.

VALENTIN WOLOGDIN.

